July Festival Tips

Looking for the latest news and tips for the July Meeting? Our team of experts will cover every race during Newmarket’s premier summer Festival, reporting any breaking news, betting developments and providing expert insight into the 2019 July Meeting.

2019 July Cup Tips

It’s easy to see why Advertise heads the Newmarket betting, after his return to top form in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot. The beaten favourite that day was TEN SOVEREIGNS, who failed to live up to the hype with a rather limp display. The betting suggests the bookies have lost faith in Aidan O’Brien’s colt, which is rather unfair on the back of just one understandably poor outing and he looks the most dangerously overpriced contender in this year’s July Cup.

2019 July Meeting Day One Tips

Plenty went wrong at the start of the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot for returning Epsom Derby hero MASAR who stumbled badly and almost unseated James Doyle leaving the stalls; but the pair recovered and remained competitive until well inside the final furlong before a lack of fitness told late on.

Charlie Appleby’s charge ought to prove a lot sharper for that reappearance, and while there is a slight worry that this outing could come too soon less than three weeks on from those exertions, if he is none the worse for that reappearance effort and can build on the run then he could take plenty of beating here.

More Day One Tips

All of the previous four Bahrain Trophy winners took part in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot. EAGLES BY DAY stayed on beyond Private Secretary and Pablo Escobar to place third in that Group Two and I think Michael Bell’s charge has an excellent chance of claiming a first major victory as he drops down in class on Thursday.

It was a performance of budding maturity in a race much deeper and more competitive than this. Eagles By Day really enjoyed the firm ground when winning nicely at Salisbury at the start of the year and this trip seems to be ideal. Michael Bell has a solid record at the July Meeting and Danny Tudhope, one of the stand-out jockeys at Royal Ascot, has been operating at a near-30% strike rate ever since. Eagles By Day looks a good-thing to me!

More Day Two Tips

3:00pm bet365 Trophy (Heritage Handicap) 1m6f

It will be very interesting to see how King’s Advice gets on after his winning run came to an end in the Northumberland Plate and it’s also worth watching the progressive Outbox very closely. Both appeal at each-way prices, yet, the stage looks set for BEN VRACKIE (NAP) to prove his class in the inaugural running on this staying handicap.

Unraced as a two-year-old, John Gosden waited until July last year to hand Ben Vrackie his stable debut. Gosden’s imposing colt got off the mark at the third time of asking with a superb 11-length triumph on the all-weather at Kempton, before following up with a narrow defeat to Maid Up in the Group Three March Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.

Ben Vrackie then made his reappearance in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes and, although he was defeated by Baghdad, Gosden’s colt ran a sensational race. A sluggish start saw Frankie Dettori’s mount sitting miles off the pace, treading a path some five horse widths off the rail for much of that mile-and-a-half trip. Few horses made up ground from such an unfavourable position during the entire meeting, but Ben Vrackie picked up brilliantly, powering home down the centre of the track, coming within a head of upsetting Mark Johnston’s favourite.

This four-year-old son of Frankel clocked an RPR of 109 on his final start as a three-year-old and managed an even more impressive mark of 113 when second at Ascot. This suggests Ben Vrackie could still be well-handicapped running off his official rating of 104 and I expect the favourite to score nicely over this extended trip.

The Moët & Chandon July Festival

Once the historic Epsom Derby meeting and the glitz and glamour of Royal Ascot have come and gone, Newmarket opens their famous gates to the public in the second week of July, hosting their popular The Moët & Chandon July Festival.

There are two racetracks inside the confines of Newmarket racecourse. The Rowley Mile is more celebrated, staging races like the 2000 and 1000 Guineas. The July Festival, however, will be held on the July course and a handful of top honours will be up for grabs during the three-day meeting.

Day one at the July Festival is recognised as Ladies Day, where female racegoers are encouraged to wear their finest garments and enter various style pageants. The Bahrain Trophy gets the action on the track underway, before the Arqana July Stakes and the Princess Of Wales’s Stakes provide entrants with the chance to claim a lucrative, Group Two prize.

Feel Good Friday starts with a bang, with the Silver Bunbury Cup preceding the Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes. The headline race on day two at Newmarket is the Group One Falmouth Stakes – a one mile contest which has been won by some of the sport’s finest fillies, including Sonic Lady, Soviet Song and Goldikova.

The third and final day of the July Festival opens up with the Superlative Stakes and the Bunbury Cup, two excellent races which provide a thrilling prelude to the main event of the meeting – the July Cup.

This historic sprint was first staged in 1876 and often attracts the fastest and finest sprinters from around the world. The ITV Racing team will be situated in Newmarket to capture this prestigious Group One and all the big races during the July Meeting. It truly is an event not to be missed.

2019 July Festival Dates

Two Group Ones headline the three-day Festival. Saturday’s July Cup is the premier race of Newmarket’s meeting, with Friday’s Falmouth Stakes boasting an impressive roll of honour of its own.

Four Group Twos will be up for grabs during the July Festival, with the Arqana July Stakes remaining one of the most important two-year-old contests during the season. The Group Three Bahrain Trophy will give St Leger hopefuls the chance to impress, with the Listed Henry Cecil stakes another major race during the July Festival.

Saturday’s Bunbury Cup is the biggest handicap of the meeting, along with the bet365 Heritage Handicap. July Festival dates watchers will notice another bet365 Handicap Stakes has been inserted into the July Festival and will occupy the penultimate slot on day two.

The ITV Racing team will be in attendance at Newmarket to capture the best of the action during all three July Festival dates, making the 2018 July Festival an event you really can’t afford to miss.